Monday, March 23, 2009

Back to ranting at work

I had myself a pretty good time Friday. A much needed day away from the workplace. Even if I started by drinking a Schlitz and later Blatz, it was a good time being with friends and just relaxing. The bowling was fun too. Ben and Barney joined us on the lanes this year. Maybe next year we expand some more and get everyone on the lanes before the octogenarians come in. For the record, I bowled 161, 184, and 190. Not bad for me. I should have broken 200 in the last game but choked.

Much of Saturday was spent recovering and planning that frankenmeatloaf pictured below. It turned out good but I do know it can be made better. I thought of a couple things that would work. Different mac and cheese. Bacon inside the loaf. Other stuff to stuff in there. More cheese. A bigger pan. Cooking the loaf outside the pan. More bacon. I will take another stab at this. Not sure when or what but I must make the monster live!

I also caught something on the news that left me scratching my head. It was the people bitching about the bonuses that the AIG executives received. It was the fact that this happened. It was who people were blaming. One news show had a story about people protesting outside the house of a person who received a bonus. Actually there was more news people than protestors so it shouldn’t even be a story, but they went with it. The problem I have here is why they were protesting the person who RECEIVED the money. Why are they not protesting the person who GAVE them the money? These people were entitled to these bonuses because of their contracts. Sure they did a shitty job. What should have happened was the government should have found a way to not pay these bonuses in the first place when they bailed AIG out. These people should be protesting in Washington not Connecticut. They should be blaming Congress and the President, not the schlub who did his job.

One other thing they seem to want to do with these companies is punish everyone. They like to make it sound like the guys who brought AIG down are equal to the others who may have worked in profitable areas of the firm. There has got to be some divisions in AIG that were doing well. Same with many of the banks that have taken TARP money. There are divisions within these banks that are quite profitable and those within said divisions should be rewarded. The government should not dictate how companies reward their employees. Yet they want to dictate how much executives can be paid.

About the only entity that gets rewarded every year with a pay raise even though they do a shitty job is the U.S. government. How about they return the raise they received this year?